Worker gets life term for rape
MANILA, Philippines – A construction worker accused of rape was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Pasay City court.
Judge Pedro de Leon Gutierrez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 119 also ordered Gilbert Penilla, who was 23 when the crime was committed, to pay P50,000 in damages to the victim.
Gutierrez dismissed Penilla’s defense that sex with the victim was consensual.
The judge said the complainant could have been much older than the accused, but that was no reason to think that she willingly submitted to his wishes.
The victim was an egg vendor who rented a room near the accused in Pasay City in 1999.
Court records showed that at midnight on Oct. 22, 1999, Penilla woke up the victim and, threatening her with a six-inch knife, raped her despite her pleas.
The accused allegedly also wanted the victim to perform oral sex. When she refused, Penilla reportedly raped the victim again. The victim reported the incident four days later to the barangay captain.
With consent
Penilla, however, claimed that the act was done with the consent of the complainant. He also alleged that the victim was living with another lover although she was married.
Gutierrez gave more weight to the victim’s testimony, dismissing the defense’s attempts to question her morals as a separated woman living with a lover.
Source:inquirer.net
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